Lo-Cal Foods and Beverages May Encourage Weight Gain

The hazards of toxins found in artificial sweeteners have been well-publicized for many years, but new research is now pointing to the fact that these substances may actually enable the body to gain extra pounds rather than lose. It appears that these falsely sweet concoctions trick the body by giving errant signals about metabolic processes and appetite triggers that can cause individuals to feel hungrier, eat more, and convert less calories into energy.

Of course, the diet soda and other interested parties in the food industry are up in arms. Sales of diet soft drinks alone number more than 2 billion cases annually in the United States. What else are these chemicals doing to our bodies, especially those of children and teens? To make matters worse, industry chemists are constantly coming up with new sweetener products that are cheaper and easier to manufacture, and that also have next to no research behind them that may indicate potential harm they can incur.

Unfortunately, most Americans will not back off from artificial sweeteners based solely on reported health hazards, but the industry stands to lose their shirts if the public becomes convinced that their diet sodas are making them fatter. It would not surprise me if the huge corporations that thrive on these profits will somehow discredit such research with a PR blitz, possibly justified by the negative impact that the economy would suffer if the truth was upheld regarding artificial sweeteners. And if history repeats itself, as it often does, it would all be done with the FDAs blessing.


Lab study ties artificial sweetener to weight gain
Rats fed food with saccharin added more body fat, researchers found
Reuters
updated 5:30 p.m. CT, Sun., Feb. 10, 2008

WASHINGTON - Using an artificial, no-calorie sweetener rather than sugar may make it tougher, not easier, to lose weight, U.S. researchers said Sunday.

Scientists at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, studied rats that were fed food with the artificial sweetener saccharin and rats fed food with glucose, a natural sugar.

In comparison to rats given yogurt sweetened with glucose, those that ate yogurt sweetened with saccharin went on to consume more calories and put on more weight and body fat.

The researchers said sweet foods may prompt the body to get ready to take in a lot of calories, but when sweetness in the form of artificial sweeteners is not followed by a large amount of calories, the body gets confused, which may lead to eating more or expending less energy than normal.

"The data clearly indicate that consuming a food sweetened with no-calorie saccharin can lead to greater body-weight gain and adiposity than would consuming the same food sweetened with high-calorie sugar," Purdue researchers Susan Swithers and Terry Davidson wrote in the journal Behavioral Neuroscience, published by the American Psychological Association.

"Such an outcome may seem counterintuitive, if not an anathema, to human clinical researchers and health care practitioners who have long recommended the use of low- and no-calorie sweeteners as a means of weight control."

Other artificial sweeteners such as aspartame that also taste sweet but do not lead to the delivery of calories may have similar effects, the researchers said.

"Animals may use sweet taste to predict the caloric contents of food. Eating sweet noncaloric substances may degrade this predictive relationship," the researchers wrote.

"With the growing use of noncaloric sweeteners in the current food environment, millions of people are being exposed to sweet tastes that are not associated with caloric or nutritive consequences," the researchers added.

The research was the latest to examine the question of whether artificial sweeteners -- used in many soft drinks and other foods — help or thwart those trying to lose weight. Various studies have offered mixed results.

Industry respondsThe new research drew criticism from the food industry.

"This study oversimplifies the causes of obesity," Beth Hubrich, a dietitian with the Calorie Control Council, an industry association representing companies that make low- and reduced-calorie foods and beverages, said in a statement.

"The causes of obesity are multi-factorial. Although surveys have shown that there has been an increase in the use of 'sugar-free' foods over the years, portion sizes of foods have also increased, physical activity has decreased and overall calorie intake has increased," Hubrich added.

The council also said findings in animal studies may not be applicable to people, which the researchers acknowledged.

Davidson said by e-mail that the implication of the council's statement "that they, too, are interested in the health of the public seems insincere."

"If they were sincere, one might expect that they would be alarmed by findings from animal or human models suggesting that their products might be contributing to the obesity epidemic that continues to expand and do its damage," Davidson said.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23097135/